‘Deadpool 3’ Finds its Director in ‘Free Guy’s Shawn Levy
Marvel might have found the director for Deadpool 3, and he’s a familiar face.
The Hollywood Reporter has just dropped the massive news: Shawn Levy is re-teaming with Ryan Reynolds for the long-gestating threequel, now set up at Marvel Studios as the sole survivor of the Marvel franchises kickstarted by Fox. Although no one had predicted this development, it’s not shocking at all; both Free Guy and Netflix’s The Adam Project have turned out to be hugely successful, so audiences worldwide and most critics will be okay with this pick.
A filmmaker with mostly comedic chops, Shawn Levy made the jump to more dramatic films with 2011’s Real Steel, starring former mutant Hugh Jackman. He later returned to comedies and also completed his Night at the Museum trilogy. It was his work (across several seasons) in Stranger Things which underlined how capable he was of handling tonally complex projects. Most recently, he helmed Free Guy (80% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes) for 20th Century Studios and The Adam Project (69%) for Netflix. He may not have the strongest visual style, but it’s hard to argue against his curriculum.
And that’s not all, as Ryan Reynolds is bringing back Deadpool 1 and 2 scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick as well, taking over from Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, known for the animated series Bob’s Burgers. Sources say Reese and Wernick will polish the script, but this reads as a big departure from the previous direction of the project (and a clear return to what made the first two films shine) — Reynolds is expected to remain very much involved in the scripting process.
Deadpool 3 is currently missing a release date in Marvel Studios’ ultra-packed calendar, but it’s far from ready, plus the character isn’t linked to the MCU yet, so there’s no pressure to rush this one. That being said, we’re likely looking at 2024 if everything moves smoothly — 2023’s film schedule, while unclear, is pretty much locked.
The elephant in the room is whether the threequel will remain R-rated or tone things down to fully blend into the MCU as we know it. Marvel overlord Kevin Feige promised they’d work something out to keep Deadpool’s bad-mannered identity and passion for bloody carnage intact, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
UPDATE: Ryan Reynolds has confirmed the news on Twitter with his signature brand of humor.
The third film in my Shawn Levy trilogy will be a tad more stabby. pic.twitter.com/ofBrFyaRsv
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 11, 2022
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
